Monday, October 13, 2008

Here's how the lady in white handled the hard questions in her interview on Inter.

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: Today, we absolutely can’t have snap elections.

Interviewer: You will contest the decree?Tymoshenko: I am convinced that this should be done so that there will be no elections. We don’t want elections because it means more chaos, and what’s interesting is that the elections are almost scheduled for New Year’s Eve. That’s when people will be eating olivye and vinehret and will be counting the ballots. It’s insanity, it must be stopped.

Interviewer: You believe the elections won’t take place?PM Yulia Tymoshenko: I know they won’t take place.

Interviewer: They say that the Kremlin made a bet on you as Ukraine’s next president.

Tymoshenko: Let’s skip this question because, first of all, it’s not yet clear who will make it to the presidential election, and, second, it seems to be that it’s not really appropriate to frame questions that way. Let’s move on to questions like…where it’s clear that…uh…that actually a constructive answer could be provided because [otherwise] I now would start responding to this with nasty things. That’s not necessary [giggles].

Interviewer: When did you last meet Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk?Tymoshenko: [pause] I think time is up.

Interviewer: You don’t feel like talking about it?Tymoshenko: I thank you very much, I thank you very much. It was a wonderful interview. I think we’ve discussed all the important subjects.

Interviewer: Thank you.

Who is Mr. Medvedchuk? Former President Kuchma’s chief of staff and a friend of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Cooperation between Medvedchuk and Tymoshenko has been widely reported by sources close to Medvechuk and by President Yushchenko.

Good for him for following-up on the same question from a completely different side (Medvedchuk). There is some merit in not answering provocative questions, but this only leads to more speculation about her connections. In this case, it would be best to give a straightforward answer.

But don't people eat this cuisine all year round (depending on personal taste,of course) - which means that what - no elections EVER in Ukraine based on dietary issues until people quit eating beet salad and diced veggies and mayo???